Joint payment in the Brazilian Public Health System: anomaly or tendency?

Abstract

Joint payment as a complement to finance public health unities is a specific recommendation by the World Bank in order to rearrange health systems, and it has been widely used throughout the world. Brazil is an exception. The aim of the article is to analyze the situation of joint payment in Sistema Único de Saúde - SUS - (Unique Health System) in two cities of a micro-region in Minas Gerais State. The main question to be answered was if we were facing an anomalous isolated case or if it was a practice non-privileged by the analyses of implementation of public health currently in Brazil, a tendency to be monitored.

Health services; Health financing; Rearrangements in health services; Health economy; Health policy: Brazil